Rare To Restructure

Venerable game developers Rare (Banjo Kazooie, Viva Piñata, Xbox LIVE Avatars) are facing some tough times due to the sluggish economy. Microsoft is reviewing Rare and plans to restructure it. It's a move that could lead to job cuts.

Rare plans to focus on three areas as specified by Microsoft. It will look at expanding the existing 360 user base by "looking at new ways to interact with content", adding extra support to Xbox LIVE and continuing to "produce high quality games."

"As the entire industry struggles to address the increasing scale and cost of development, we too have felt a need to restructure our current approach so we can speed development and better manage the scale required to create high quality games," said studio head Mark Betteridge, "With four projects recently underway, now is the right time to make this change."

It remains to be seen what those four projects will be. But some speculate that Rare may be working on a new Killer Instinct game. What do you think of Rare? Personally, I liked Conker's Bad Fur Day enough to always give Rare the benefit of the doubt.